Starmobile Diamond V7 Initial Review: Stellar 5.7-inch Phablet with Flip Cover and Stylus

Starmobile Diamond V7 looking very good!

We go hands-on with the final prototype of the Starmobile Diamond V7

After the highly successful launch of their new flagship smartphone, the Starmobile Knight (click to read our review), Starmobile is now gearing up to launch their flagship Phablet, the Starmobile Diamond V7. We saw the early engineering unit of this device a few months back when Starmobile introduced their mid-year offerings. Last night we got a chance to play around with the final prototype, including all the freebie accessories and peripherals. After around 15-20 minutes with it we can already say that this can definitely slug it out with the eagerly anticipated MyPhone Iceberg!

First let’s go over the specifications.

Starmobile Diamond V7 Spec Sheet

1.2GHz Quad-core Processor MediaTek
PowerVR SGX544MP GPU
1GB RAM
4GB Internal Storage, expandable up to 32GB via microSD Card
5.7-inch IPS Capacitive Display, DragonTrail Glass
720×1280 Resolution, 257 pixels per inch
18.0-megapixels rear-facing camera with LED flash, autofocus and BSI
8.0-megapixels front-facing camera with autofocus and BSI
Dual SIM, Dual Standby WiFi, WiFI Hotspot, Bluetooth, 3G, GPS/aGPS
Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
2,600mAH Battery
Comes with free Leather Flip Case and Capacitive Stylus

As you can see the Starmobile Diamond V7 ain’t no slouch. The internals are very competitive as it is powered by a quad-core processor, 1GB RAM, and Android Jelly Bean 4.2. It also has the same camera set-up of the Starmobile Knight which makes it the perfect Phablet for “selfies”. Also don’t forget that this has expandable storage via microSD which means you can stuff more videos, songs, and photos in it.

Hardware Check: Big, Fast, High Performance

App and screen transitions were very fast, smooth, and fluid

The Starmobile Diamond V7’s 5.7-inch display has a resolution for 1280×720, which comes out to around 257 pixels per inch. For a device with a 5.7-inch screen, 257 ppi is already quite good and very competitive. The images, text, and videos that we saw all had great color and detail to them. This is absolutely critical for phablets since you use devices like more for media consumption than your usual texting and calling.

Adding more value to the mix though is the presence of the free flip case and capacitive stylus. In the box we got a flip cover which had the same white plastic back cover but it was connected to a brown faux leather flap with interior felt lining. The stylus was also cleverly placed in between the flaps.

Not bad right? Pretty sweet deal given the freebies.

Anyway, just so you guys get a better idea of the size, we put it side-by-side the gigantic Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3. Here they are side-by-side.

Mega 6.3 still towers over everyone else when it comes to sheer size

Ganda nga… eh magkano?

As far as initial impressions go, we’re very happy with the Starmobile Diamond V7. Unfortunately though they didn’t give us the official SRP yet but we did confirm that it will sell for less than Php13,000. Hopefully it will be priced in the same level (or lower) as the Starmobile Knight. Anything in excess might be a little too hard to sell since there are already LTE-powered devices in that price range.

A sweet killer price would be around Php11,000. Let’s keep our fingers crossed, hehe.

Anyway, watch out for our full review soon. Also don’t forget to watch the latest Unbox video podcast where we did a live unboxing of the Starmobile Diamond V7. It should be up on YouTube by tomorrow lunchtime (we’ll make a post here to remind everyone).

Congratulations Starmobile and we hope you price this correctly and fairly.